


The Great Mall Mystery

by WindChimeGhost



Category: Digimon Tamers, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Santa Clause (Movies), The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, Transformers Animated (2007), Transformers: Prime
Genre: Action/Adventure, Creepy, Crossover, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, Self-Insert, Shopping Malls, Snow, Suspense, mall
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-15 01:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5766727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindChimeGhost/pseuds/WindChimeGhost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This fanfic is a crossover fanfic of sorts, although it’s not one that fits into any particular fandom. It’s just a random, fun fanfic about myself and a few of my favorite characters and the adventure we embark on whenever we accidentally get locked in a mall overnight. Story is narrated by myself.</p><p>This story is spoiler free and is enjoyable for anyone to read, regardless if you’re familiar with the fandoms or not. However, if you aren’t familiar with some of the characters, you may not understand some things. But don’t let that keep you from enjoying this fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mall Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Like the summary says. This is a crossover fanfic. It focuses on specific characters from various fandoms interacting with each other. And I’ve also included myself along with them. If this type of fanfic isn’t your thing, then please don’t read or comment. If it IS your thing and you read on past this, then I hope that you enjoy it as much as I’m enjoying writing it. =)
> 
> This fanfic is based on and was inspired by some of my personal daydreams that I like to entertain. So this fic is pretty special to me in more ways than one. I’ve been meaning to write these specific daydreams out in a readable form for a long time (for myself as well as for anyone who wishes to read it), but just haven’t had a chance to do it until now. This year I really want to finally make this happen, so it’s going to be one of my projects that I will work on in-between other stuff. New chapters will be added as I get them done.
> 
>  **Characters included in this story:** myself (my story self is called Angel), Loki (Marvel movie-verse/The Avengers), Hearthstone (Rick Riordan’s ‘Magnus Chase’), Jack Frost (The Santa Clause 3), Knock Out (Transformers Prime), Starscream (Transformers Animated), Beelzemon (Digimon Tamers).
> 
>  **Setting:** some mall / real life
> 
> Loki © Marvel
> 
> Hearthstone © Rick Riordan
> 
> Jack Frost © Disney
> 
> Knock Out and Starscream © Hasbro
> 
> Beelzemon © Bandai/Toei Animation/Akiyoshi Hongo
> 
> Fanfic and plot ©2016 by me (please do not take, use, or edit without my permission)

It seemed like such a good idea at the time—going out for a late night movie at the theater in the local mall with a group of my friends. I wanted it to be an evening of fun, friendship, laughter, and goofing off. That’s all. It was just something to do a few days after Christmas to add to the fun of the season while we waited for New Year’s to arrive. I never wanted it to turn into the mess that it did. And goodness knows I never meant for us to trash the entire mall.

But there I go getting way ahead of myself like I always do. I think I need to back up a little bit and explain a few things first.

First of all, these friends I’m referring to…were of the fictional kind, by everyone else’s standards anyway. They were actually some of my favorite characters pulled from some of my favorite cartoons, movies, and books. I can’t begin to explain how they ended up here in the real world, so I won’t go into those long and boring details. I’ll be honest; I have a hard time understanding some of it myself. What matters is that they _were_ real, they were living and breathing here in our world, and they had befriended me. Of course, they had befriended me. They were my favorite characters, after all. They already knew who I was before they came here, so it was more like a family reunion or something. Did you know that your favorite characters really do know who you are? They choose you for a reason. 

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. So my favorite characters came out into the real world and found me. There was Starscream from Transformers Animated, Knock Out from Transformers Prime, Loki from the Marvel movies, Beelzemon from Digimon Tamers, Hearthstone from the Magnus Chase books, and Jack Frost from The Santa Clause 3.

Hearthstone was the newest addition to our little weird family. I have to say that it hasn’t been easy for the poor elf since he arrived, with him being deaf and all. Out of everyone, I’m the only one that knows a smattering of sign language. And, I’ll confess, I’m not familiar with it enough to fluently carry on a conversation with someone. I basically know enough to get myself in trouble or make myself look like an idiot by signing something totally stupid like, _“Poke my eye on the soda from the train on the blue convertible.”_ Hearth has taught me a little more sign language since he’s been with us, but I still have a long way to go.

So, yeah, we had to result to another method: Hearth carrying around either a small dry erase board and marker or a notepad and pencil. He quickly found out that it was easier to communicate with me, though, than the others. When it came to him communicating with everyone else…it was a bit more challenging, especially when you have two Transformers in the group who have no clue what sign language is and look at it with fascination like it was their first day on earth. Of the two, Knock Out showed the most interest in learning and had even picked up on a few of the signs. Starscream, on the other hand, showed no interest at all and seemed to view it as an annoyance and merely guessed at what Hearth said, which turned out being wrong 100% of the time.

All fans fantasize about meeting their favorite characters in person, in real life, but what do you do when you finally get that chance and you discover you can’t communicate with one of them? Nothing. You do absolutely nothing. You just keep on loving them and making them feel special. When you do that, you find that you can communicate in ways you never knew were possible. Love and friendship speak the strongest language.

As you’ve probably already guessed, Hearth didn’t get along well with Loki either. Not because Loki didn’t know sign language, but because…well…he was Loki. Hearthstone is a Light Elf from Alfheim. Even though it wasn’t the same Loki that Hearth knew, he still stayed away from him as much as possible, because he didn’t trust him. That was fine with Loki, because, for some reason, he didn’t like Hearth either. Both of them enjoyed hanging around me, so I often had two silent people on either side of me.

Needless to say, I had difficulties taking all of them anywhere, as you can imagine. I eventually had to result to creating disguises for them to make them look somewhat normal. Yeah, define ‘normal’ here. The disguises helped to a certain extent, although people still stared whenever we walked into a place. It was to be expected. I mean, I would have stared too if a group like ours suddenly came through the front doors of the mall. A human girl surrounded by a group of mismatched characters, a couple of them wearing oversized human clothing to hide their abnormally shaped features. No one will notice that at all. We’ll blend right in. Yeah, who was I kidding? We looked more like a small mafia rather than a group of friends out to have a fun night at the movies—me being the big boss and the rest my bodyguards and hitmen. Beelzemon had a difficult time hiding his tail under the trench coat he wore, not to mention his boots that had three blades each that were over a foot long. Starscream’s wings couldn’t help but poke through the clothing he wore, and his booted feet with thruster heels were like giant clodhoppers of doom. And despite the large coat Knock Out wore, which made him look like an overly padded football player, he still had car wheels sticking out of his back. It was kinda hard to disguise stuff like that. Even though Starscream and Knock Out weren’t their normal sizes (thank goodness), they were still big and tall enough to stand out like an elephant in a field of caterpillars.

Loki and Hearthstone didn’t have to wear disguises since they already looked like humans. But they still insisted on wearing scarves and hats that covered their faces, claiming that people would probably recognize them and draw attention to us. Hearthstone wore his traditional red and white striped candy cane scarf, with the addition of a red knitted hat pulled down low over the top part of his face. Loki also wore a scarf and knitted hat (both green) in the same manner. In my opinion, it made us look even more like the mafia than I cared to admit, that is…if the mafia wore knitted hats in Christmassy colors with little white balls on top. At least it was better than the original choices. I had discouraged Loki from wearing a ski mask, telling him we didn’t need to look like a band of robbers.

Then there was Jack Frost bringing up the rear, wearing his normal flashy attire, sunglasses, and frozen spiky hair. He looked like the biggest thing since Elvis Presley, or he hoped he did anyway. He grinned big and waved at everyone that passed by, not caring a flip if the whole world saw him. 

I was instantly worried that security would stop us and ask questions or ask us to leave, but no one really paid us much notice. It was at that moment that I was glad that the mall was relatively bare of shoppers. A few kids pointed at us and some adults stared as we walked by, but other than those we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

The weather channels and all of the news stations had been screaming all week that there was a massive snowstorm that was due to hit the town the next day. Already the temperature outside had dropped considerably in preparation for it. It was bitter cold with the wind making it feel colder—the kind of cold that slices right through you. I felt like I was going to turn into an ice sculpture just walking to the door. So because of that, the mall was pretty empty save for a few stragglers here and there. Everyone was undoubtedly flooding grocery stores and stocking up on the usual necessities, like milk and bread. Leave it to us to go see a movie on the eve of a blizzard. We were kinda crazy like that.

It was nice, though, to walk through the mall and not have to push our way through a crowd of onlookers. The sounds of Beelzemon, Knock Out, and Starscream’s feet hitting the hard floor drowned out most anything else, but I could faintly hear Christmas music still playing over the ceiling speakers. It made me feel good knowing that some stores still considered it Christmas and hadn’t rushed to put Valentine’s decorations up.

We arrived at the theater and got our tickets and went inside. Then we waited a few minutes while Beelzemon and Jack got popcorn, and then we walked down the long hallways until we found the auditorium our movie was playing in. Since Starscream, Knock Out, and Beelzemon were taller than the average human, we decided that it would be best to sit up in the very back. I didn’t feel like dealing with complaints from people who couldn’t see past Screamer’s wingspan.

The theater was warm and cozy. In fact, it was a little too cozy. I immediately felt drowsy the moment I sat down in my seat and secretly hoped I wouldn’t fall asleep during the movie. It was rare for me to fall asleep during movies, and I never went to sleep at the theater…never.

Things started getting interesting after the movie was well over with. It was the first time I had ever fallen asleep during a movie at the theater. It took me awhile to get my bearings. Right away I knew something was wrong, though. The movie was over, that much was clear, but…the place was empty and pitch black save for the green EXIT sign over the door down front. I scowled. I felt around on either side of me, my hands touching warm bodies that reassured me that I wasn’t alone and that I hadn’t been the only one to fall asleep. Loki was curled up, snoozing away on my left, his head partly resting on my shoulder. It took me a moment to figure out who was on my right, and then I came to the conclusion that it had to be Hearthstone when I tugged on his scarf. The unmistakable and comforting scent of pine mixed with wood smoke met my nose when he moved in his sleep, confirming that it was indeed Hearth—no one else in our party smelt that good. Funny, I could have sworn that Beelzemon was there when we were watching the movie. They must have traded places after I fell asleep.

Why had we all fallen asleep anyway? It seemed highly unlikely that the Transformers would fall asleep too since they didn’t need to sleep as much as the rest of us.

“Hey,” I finally said, patting at Hearth and Loki, “Wake up, guys.”

“Hnnnn…?” Loki moaned.

“Guys, wake up!” I shouted a little louder, shaking Loki.

“Yeah, what?” Loki suddenly shot up. “Uh…why is it so dark in here?”

Hearthstone, now awake, grabbed my arm tightly. I patted his shoulder to let him know everything was okay. By this time, everyone else was starting to stir and mumble incoherently, wondering the very same thing Loki had asked. I could pinpoint where Starscream and Knock Out were sitting by their glowing red optics, which cast an eerie red hue on the surrounding area and helped me make out everyone’s forms. They were the only light sources we could see other than the EXIT sign.

“What’s going on?” asked Starscream.

“I-I don’t know,” I answered. “I think we fell asleep during the movie.”

“How is that even possible?” said Knock Out. “I never fall into recharge during movies!”

“That makes two of us,” I said.

“Shouldn’t there be another movie starting?” Beelzemon asked.

“We must have slept through the last two they were showing tonight,” said Jack Frost.

“We couldn’t have,” said Starscream. “My chronometer says it’s only nine-thirty.”

“The movie started at eight o’clock and ran for two hours,” I mused, trying to piece everything together.

“Precisely,” Starscream answered. “Which means the movie we were watching should still be going.”

“So why isn’t it still playing?” asked Knock Out. “The electricity hasn’t gone out because there’s an EXIT sign lit down in front.”

No one had an answer.

“Hey! You up there,” Knock Out suddenly shouted, “Turn the movie back on!”

I turned around in my seat and looked up at the projector’s window above us. It was dark just like the rest of the place. In fact, I couldn’t even tell whereabouts the window was. For all I knew, I could have been staring at the wall next to it.

“I don’t think anyone is going to hear you, Knock Out,” I said. “There’s no one up there.”

“It jus’ doesn’t add up,” said Beelzemon.

“You’re telling me. I can’t believe the employees would just leave us here. I mean, don’t they usually clean up in here before they close?” I said. “Wouldn’t they have seen all of us sleeping in the seats? It would be kinda hard to overlook this mob.”

“Maybe they had poor vision.” Knock Out shrugged.

“Possible, but highly unlikely,” said Loki.

“My guess is something must have happened to make everyone leave in a big hurry,” said Screamer. “The question is what?”

“There’s only one way to find out. Let’s make our way to the lobby.”

I started to get out of my seat, but Loki grabbed my arm and pulled me back down. “Shh, listen.”

All of us listened, except for poor Hearthstone who had no idea what was going on. He continued to keep a hand on my shoulder.

“What’s that?” Screamer asked.

“Sounds like wind, genius,” Jack whispered. I saw Screamer’s eyes give him an annoyed look.

“Okay, guys, let’s go,” I said, hoping to break up anything that was on the verge of starting. I grabbed Hearthstone’s hand and helped him to stand and continued holding it as we gathered up our coats and other clothing items and moved in single file out of the row of seats.

It was tricky—trying to feel our way down the aisle with only the glowing optics of both Transformers to guide us. We allowed Starscream and Knock Out to go ahead of us since they were able to see in the dark. We followed their eyes, but not without bumping up against seats and each other.

“Hey! Watch it back there!” Beelzemon suddenly shouted while we were halfway down the aisle. I heard something hit up against one of the chairs. I turned and strained to see behind me in the darkness. “Don’t step on the tail.”

“I’m soooo sorry,” Jack replied somewhat sarcastically. “It’s not like I was trying to step on it on purpose. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s blacker than coal in here.”

“An’ you would know about coal, wouldn’t you? I bet Santa gives it to ya every Christmas.”

“Now, let’s not get personal.” Jack huffed.

I heard what sounded like someone stumbling.

“Hey!” Beelzemon shouted again. “I’m walkin’ here!”

“Sorry!” Jack shouted louder with another huff. “My foot caught on one of the seats.”

Beelzemon let out an annoyed grunt in reply.

“Hey, guys. Don’t make me come back there,” I shouted their way. “We’ve got enough going on.”

“But he started it,” Beelzemon said.

“It was an accident, Beelze,” I replied. “Give him a break. It’s dark in here. We’re all fumbling around. Keep your tail positioned where it won’t trip people, and it won’t get stepped on.”

I didn’t hear another peep out of them after that as we focused our attention back on getting out of the cramped place. I guess that’s what I get for having a demon lord as part of my friends circle. Beelzemon was a good person, though, and meant well. He just had flaws like we all do.

After collecting some bruises from the seats, we finally made our way into the hall outside. It was just as dark, lit only by more EXIT signs.

“The whole place closed down?” Beelzemon asked aloud. “What did they do, jus’ leave us here?”

In reply to his question, we heard more wind outside and something clatter on top of the building. We all looked up as if we expected to see some creature coming through the ceiling.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out,” said Beelzemon, taking off at a brisk walk down the hall and turning a corner and disappearing down another hall.

I grabbed Hearth and Loki by the hands and nodded to everyone to follow. While we were walking, Hearthstone tugged at my hand to get my attention. I turned to him, and he gave me a questioning look that told me he was really confused over everything that was happening. I motioned for him to give me his notepad. He patted and felt around his black leather jacket a few seconds, finally fishing it out of one of the pockets and placing it in my hands, along with a pencil. I quickly began jotting down an explanation the best I could in the dark, feeling my way through it. It became a little bit lighter the closer we got to the end of the second hallway.

When we arrived at the end, we came out into the theater’s lobby, the lingering smell of burnt popcorn hitting us in the face. Sure enough, the theater was closed. The only lights that were lit were a couple of accent lights that radiated a soft, cozy glow: one over the snack area and one over the ticket booth. There were no people—just…us. But that’s not what concerned me the most. Looking ahead of us, through the glass front doors of the theater, I could see into the mall outside. It was also dark, except for colored lights radiating from the signs on the surrounding stores.

“Am I the only one seeing this?” Knock Out asked, pointing to the door. “Please, tell me I’m not the only one seeing this.”

“You aren’t the only one seeing it,” Starscream grumbled.

“The whole mall is closed,” Loki said softly. We all stood there and stared, not really believing what we were seeing. When I realized I had stopped writing on the notepad, I quickly went back to finishing up my explanation and handed the pad and pencil back to Hearth.

“Everything’s closed,” Beelzemon announced the obvious, walking up to us. “The whole mall just suddenly shut down.”

“But…why?” Loki asked. “What for?”

“Looks like that’s something we’re going to have to figure out for ourselves,” said Jack Frost. “Shall we?” He motioned toward the door. He was the only one of us that didn’t seem all that concerned. Instead, he was treating it with amusement, like a walk in the park. Typical Jack Frost.

I was the one who ran ahead and up to the theater’s front door. I gave it a push, but it didn’t budge. I turned the lock and opened it, stepping out into the main part of the mall. I looked to my left and then right. I wasn’t sure what I was hoping to find or see. It was more or less just one of those normal reactions you find yourself doing. Everyone else gathered behind me, hoping to get a peek out into the dark stretch of void that was the mall.

“We need to find the front doors,” I said, “so we can see what’s going on outside.”

Everyone agreed as they came out of the theater and began walking in the direction of the front part of the mall. Loki was the only one who stayed behind and waited for me to follow. I turned and held my hand out toward Hearthstone, who was standing inside the doorway, scribbling on his notepad while he still had a light to see by. I knew he could get along just fine on his own, but I still felt better if we held hands. I wanted to keep up with him because I didn’t like the thought of him getting separated from us and lost somewhere in the dark. He couldn’t call for help, and he wouldn’t be able to hear me calling for him. I also didn’t want him to feel alone in the darkness since he couldn’t read our lips or know that we were carrying on a conversation.

He finished up quickly and walked forward, handing me the pad and pencil. I took it and read his reply.

_The mall’s closed and we’re locked inside, all alone? What happened? What are we going to do?_

I scribbled out an answer, telling him we were going to find the front doors and get a look outside. I added that I hoped it would give some answers. Then I handed it back to him. He read it and nodded, and then placed the pad and pencil inside his pocket and took my outstretched hand. Together, Loki, Hearth, and I began walking. The others had stopped a little piece in front of us, talking while they waited for us to catch up.

“I still can’t figure why they would leave us in the theater.” I heard Starscream say as we walked up to join them.

“And I can’t figure out why all of us would fall asleep during the movie,” Knock Out added. “That doesn’t seem right.”

“Somethin’s definitely going on around here, and I don’t like it,” Beelzemon growled.

“What if it was all just a mistake?” I said. “What if they really did just lock us in by accident?”

“I dunno. I sort of have to agree with them. All of this does seem rather odd when you think about it, especially the part about all of us falling asleep,” said Loki. “I mean, what are the chances of that happening?”

“Especially considerin’ the fact that we have two Cybertronians among us, of which aren’t easily susceptible to conkin’ off,” Beelzemon added.

“Point,” said Knock Out.

“So you think there’s foul play here?” I said, raising an eyebrow. I didn’t like the thought of that, but I had to say it anyway.

“Could be,” Loki answered.

“You can call me paranoid if you want to, but I wouldn’t shrug it off just yet,” said Beelzemon.

“But who would want us locked up in a mall?” Starscream asked.

“Good question,” said Loki, smiling. He gestured ahead of us. “Let’s go find the front doors.”


	2. We Decide to Loot the Mall

It was actually kind of creepy, walking through an empty mall at night. And that’s saying a lot since I normally don’t get creeped out that easily. It felt strange, though, being the only people there and hearing just our voices echo around us. The normal sounds common to malls—overhead music, people talking, kids screaming, hundreds of feet walking—were all absent, making the place feel downright ghostly. A lot of the surrounding stores were locked up tight with metal, caged doors, feeding the imagination with the notion that there was some hideous beast lurking behind them, ready to spring forward and throw its body against them. If the mall itself wasn’t dark enough, each store carried its own brand of darkness that was even blacker. Not being able to see the stores’ contents didn’t help the creep factor any. The only light afforded to us came from EXIT signs and whatever store signs had been left on. Some of the stores facing the outside of the building had a few lights on, for security purpose. But even with this, it still left a good amount of the mall shrouded in darkness.

As we walked by one of the outer stores having lights on, I couldn’t help noticing that the lights were flickering. I looked up at the Pacsun sign hanging over the store on my left and noticed it, too, was also flickering.

“There’s a storm going on outside,” I said. “Look at the way the lights are flickering.”

“That can’t be right,” Beelzemon answered.

“What else would be making the lights flicker, then?” said Starscream.

“But the storm isn’t supposed to be here till tomorrow.”

“Well, something’s going on out there,” I said, pushing past Beelzemon.

When we finally arrived at the main front doors, the sight before us left all of us speechless. Yet it explained everything. There was a storm going on all right. It was the worst snowstorm I had ever seen in my life. The whole parking lot was already deeply covered in white, and more was coming down in torrents. It was so thick you couldn’t see anything. It just looked like fog. And the wind was horrendous as it violently blew the snow around and beat up against the side of the building, shaking the doors in front of us like it had grabbed onto the handles and was trying desperately to get inside. We instinctively stepped back when this happened, not knowing if the glass was going to break under the force.

“There must be at least four feet of snow out there,” Beelzemon said.

“I’m betting it’s more than that,” said Starscream. “I can’t even see the base of the parking lot lights.”

“Base of the lights?” Knock Out said with a laugh. “I’d be surprised if you could see anything out there. That snow is coming down heavy.”

“The blizzard came early,” I whispered, still in awe over the sight.

“And suddenly,” Loki added. “This explains why the mall is deserted. They must have evacuated everyone right before it hit.”

“Look at it piled against the doors.” I marveled, looking over the large white mounds that seemed to be getting larger every minute as the snow continued to whip around in the wind.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” said Jack Frost, grinning. “So what are we waiting for? Let me get those doors for you.” Jack walked forward, about to put his hand around one of the handles.

“Wait!” I cried. “Don’t touch it. There could be an alarm hooked to it.”

Jack pulled his hands away as if the door handles were red hot.

“The alarm goes off and suddenly we’ve got the police here.”

“Uh…correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that what we want? The police can help us get home,” said Knock Out.

“No,” I replied. “If the police come and we’re here inside…that will look bad.”

“We can just tell them the truth. That we were locked inside.”

“Like they’re going to believe that story,” I rolled my eyes. “If it was one person, yeah, it’d be more believable.”

“She’s got a point,” Loki said with a tired sigh.

“Yeah,” said Beelzemon, “I agree. An’ jus’ look at all of us…we ain’t exactly a band of saints.”

“Speak for yourself.” Knock Out glared. “Not all of us look like renegades from the Hells Angels.”

“Ya tryin’ to be funny, doc?” Beelzemon snapped.

“No, I’m just telling it like it is.”

Beelzemon growled as he lunged at Knock Out.

“Will you two numbskulls be quiet?!” Starscream shouted. Knock Out and Beelzemon backed away from each other.

“Excuse me?” Knock Out said in surprise. “Who are you calling a numbskull?”

“It ain’t me, doc,” said Beelzemon. Knock Out glared at him.

Starscream ignored them and continued, “What makes you think the police would even be able to GET here? What makes any of you think we’re going home?”

“I’m sorry to say, but Starscream is right,” I said.

“You mean…we aren’t going home?” Loki asked. His voice was tinged with sadness.

“Isn’t it obvious?” I replied, pointing at the snow. “Even if we did manage to get out, there’s no way we’ll make it home. We don’t know how deep it is out there, and I doubt that Knock Out and Screamer will want to carry us through all of it.”

“Got that right,” said Knock Out, crossing his arms over his chest.

“No, we can’t go out in that. Our internal systems would instantly freeze over,” said Starscream.

“So we’re stuck here…” said Loki.

“Yep, looks like it.” I nodded. “At least for tonight, anyway. Maybe it’ll be cleared up by morning.”

“Aw, come on. It’s just a little snow,” Jack piped up.

“A little snow to _you_ ,” Knock Out said, looking down at the trickster. “You and Loki are the winter freaks. If you got the chance, both of you would strip down to your underwear and go out there and dance in the stuff.”

“Not a bad idea.” Jack nodded. “Only, I’d get rid of the underwear, too.”

“No, you are not,” I said, my voice having a hint of warning to it.

“Yeah, I don’t think any of us feel like throwing up tonight,” Loki said with a smirk.

Jack made a face in reply. “I’m surprised at you, Loki—you being a trickster and all. We’re like kindred spirits. You mean to tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing?”

“I may be a trickster, but I also have my modesty and dignity to think of. I’m a prince, after all.”

Jack waved him off. “You’re no fun.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re no prince. You’re nothing but a momma’s boy.”

Loki ran over and grabbed Jack by the coat. “Say that again!”

“Loki!” I shouted. I ran forward and grabbed hold of Loki, trying to pry him from Jack. “Loki, please stop.”

We struggled a few minutes. Then they took me out. They literally took me out. I don’t know if it was Loki’s elbow or Jack’s elbow, it was too dark to tell one from the other. All I know is that one of them hit me in the middle of the struggle and I went backward and down on the floor. It wasn’t a huge hit, but it was enough where I was momentarily confused. I didn’t know what had actually happened until I felt Hearth at my side, helping me to stand.

By the time I got on my feet again, everyone around me had erupted into an uproar. They were yelling and fighting and arguing one thing and another. I sighed and shook my head, putting a hand on Hearth to steady myself. I wanted to be angry, but in a way, I couldn’t blame them. We were stuck in a mall at night, after all. I could guess that everyone was frustrated and tired and cranky. I’m betting they were probably hungry too because I know I was. I was suddenly regretting not getting popcorn at the theater.

“Hold up, guys. Just hold up!” I shouted. “Stoppit!”

Everyone grew quiet and turned to me.

After gaining the group’s attention, I continued, “We all need to stop and take a breather here. We need to accept the fact that we’re stuck here until the storm’s over. We need to get a grip, need to calm down, and we need to start making ourselves comfortable because we’re going to be here for awhile. I’m not going to spend all night trying to keep all of you from killing each other.” I looked around me. “Screamer, Knock Out, Beelze, step away from each other.”

They slowly did as I said. I took a few steps forward, grabbed hold of Loki’s arm, and jerked him back to stand beside me. “Behave yourself,” I sternly whispered to him.

Everyone remained quiet as we paused a few minutes. The wind continued to blow exceedingly strong, and we could hear unexplainable noises somewhere outside—the wind blowing things on the roof and on the outside of the building perhaps. I just silently hoped the building held together for as long as we needed it.

“So what exactly are we going to do until we get out of here?” asked Loki softly.

“We’ll just have to camp out here,” I answered. “It’ll be fun.”

Everyone exchanged looks with each other.

“Come on, guys, improvise,” I said. 

“Maybe we could phone someone,” Jack suggested. “Anyone here got a cell phone?”

Everyone shook their heads. Jack turned to me.

“You know I don’t like those things,” I replied to his questioning stare.

“Okay, then.” He shrugged. “Maybe we could use a phone here in the mall. I’m sure all the stores have one somewhere.”

“Jack, we’ve already been over this. No one is getting in or out tonight.” I sighed. “So we might as well just make ourselves comfortable.”

Before I could say anything else, I felt Hearthstone grip my arm tightly and tug on it. At first, I didn’t know what was wrong with him. But then I felt him lean against me, and it finally dawned on me. He needed light. He had been in the dark for too long.

“It’s okay, buddy,” I whispered, even though he couldn’t hear me. I patted his shoulder and tried to keep him steady. I turned to the rest of the group. “Hearth needs light. Anyone here got a flashlight?”

We began patting our pockets. I looked through my purse, finally digging out a small one from the very bottom. I turned it on and handed it to Hearth. The elf eagerly took it and shone it on his face.

“You okay?” I asked. He nodded, patting my shoulder reassuringly.

“Wait a minute,” said Starscream. “I think I have a bigger light.” He rummaged through his subspace pocket for several minutes, eventually pulling out an odd looking contraption and placing it on the floor. It looked like a skinny, three-foot tall rectangle box standing on its end.

“Ahhh, yes! I had almost forgotten about those little things.” Knock Out smiled.

“What is that?” I asked, pointing at it.

“A lamp,” Knock Out answered.

Starscream pressed the top part of it and it came on like an earth fluorescent, filling the whole area with a good, bright light.

“Now that’s a flashlight,” said Jack.

“It’s a Cybertronian emergency lamp that doesn’t require earth power,” Screamer explained. He went on to explain how it worked, but all of the scientific, technical mumbo jumbo he rattled on about was lost on all of us, except Loki. So we just nodded like we understood. The thing is, we had a good light source, and Hearthstone was happy about that. He sat down on the floor and soaked in the rays like a sunbather. Although I felt sort of bad that I had forgotten about him needing light. If it wasn’t for Screamer, Hearth probably wouldn’t have made it that night.

We all took seats around the lamp. I sat down with my back against the glass window of whatever store was behind me (I think it was Verizon or something like that.). Loki walked over and sat down beside me on my right. Hearthstone scooted up next to me on my left. I took this time to fill Hearth in on what all was going on and the discussions we had up until that point, as well as some of the group’s suspicions. It took me awhile to write all of this down on his pad, but since we didn’t have much else to do it helped kill some time. When I finished, I handed the pad and pencil to him.

Screamer, Knock Out, Beelzemon, and Jack had been talking all of this time and were still talking when I finished writing. They were discussing various topics, namely what they thought was going on. Everyone had their own theory. I didn’t pay too much attention to any of it, though. I was tired and hungry and could care less. I found myself blocking it out and staring past Knock Out, who was sitting directly in front of me. I felt Loki lean against me at one point. Smiling, I leaned my head against his and sighed. The wind and snow continued to howl and blow outside the doors, rattling the glass. I wondered whether or not we should make camp elsewhere, just for safety. It was also getting a bit chilly in the area from the wind coming in through the cracks around the doors. I pulled my coat up around me to block out the draft. Normally, I loved the cold, but the breeze that came in from the storm was extremely bitter cold.

Finally, Hearth finished reading the novel I wrote for him. He wrote out his reply, patted my arm, and handed me back the pad. I read it and wrote out a reply to hand back to him. We exchanged a conversation like this for a few minutes before I turned to Loki.

“We’re gonna have to find some supplies somewhere,” I whispered.

“How? Where?” Loki whispered back.

I shrugged. “I don’t know, but we can’t spend the night like this. I’m about to starve, and I know everyone else probably is, too. It’s probably why everyone’s so cranky.”

“The only way to get supplies around here is by breaking open a store.”

“Yeah, I know,” I mumbled. “I don’t like the thought of doing that, but I don’t know what else to do.”

“But there aren’t any grocery stores in here.” Loki pointed out.

“There’s a food court. Surely there’s something there we could use.”

“If there is, it won’t be cooked.”

“We’ll work that out when we get that far,” I replied, getting up. “We have to at least try.” I turned to face the others, standing in a position where Hearth could see my lips. I tapped my foot against his feet to get his attention. “Alright, everyone,” I began. The rest of my friends fell silent and looked to me. “Since we’re going to be here for the night, we need to find supplies of some sort. I know we’re all hungry, so we need to locate some kind of food.”

There was murmured agreement about the need for food, except for when it came to the Transformers.

“But we’re in a mall,” Beelzemon said.

“I know. Loki and I already discussed this. There’s a food court in here, so I thought maybe we could find something there.”

“Sounds good,” said Jack. “Let’s go do it.”

“While we’re doing this, what we need to do is separate and look over the place, find things we can use, not just food. Like blankets, pillows, flashlights, and maybe a radio and some batteries.”

“Radio and batteries?” Knock Out repeated.

“We need to know what’s going on out there.” I pointed to the doors.

“We already know what’s going on out there just by looking out the doors,” Starscream mumbled.

I gave him an exasperated look. “You know what I mean. We need a weather radio of some sort so we can keep up with what’s happening.”

“Alright,” said Beelzemon, “First things first, though; we need light sources. Knock Out, ya have another one of these?” He pointed at the Cybertronian lamp on the floor.

“Yes, I think so,” Knock Out answered, reaching to open his subspace compartment.

“The rest, you pull out whatever flashlights you have.”

Hearth handed me back the flashlight I had given him, but I motioned for him to keep it. That was actually the only flashlight we had between all of us. So Knock Out and Starscream rummaged through their personal storage units until they came up with two more Cybertronian emergency lamps. Knock Out managed to find a couple of spare flashlights in some crevice of his body that was normally part of his vehicle mode—glovebox, perhaps? I dunno. I didn’t ask. After our supply was laid out before us, we had barely enough for each person to have some kind of light, not counting the Transformers. Like I said before, Starscream and Knock Out could see in the dark just fine since they had night vision, so they let us have the flashlights and lamps. Hearth took the flashlight I gave him, Jack took one of the flashlights Knock Out provided, and Beelzemon took one of the Cybertronian lamps. Loki said that he would go with me, so I took the other flashlight for the both of us. We decided to leave the first lamp at our campsite so we could easily find it again once we were done.

Before we left, I addressed the group one last time.

“Your main goal is to find whatever you think we can use. I don’t want to break into stores, but if we have to, we have to. We’ll just pay for whatever we use when they come to open the mall. So be sure to keep track of everything you get and where it comes from.” Everyone nodded that they understood. “Loki and I will try to find our way to the food court and see what’s there, if anything. The rest of you scour the other stores.”

“Right now I just need to find the little boys’ room,” said Beelzemon. We all laughed.

“Yes, that’s something else we badly need to locate,” I said, smiling. “Everyone, make sure you remember where the restrooms are.”

“Might I suggest us moving camp to the nearest one?” said Knock Out.

“That’s a good idea,” I said, pointing to the medic. “We’ll do that whenever we meet up again. That way no one gets lost trying to find their way there.”

“Or has an accident trying to get there,” Jack added with a smirk.

“That, too.” I cringed.

“Sounds good ta me,” said Beelzemon.

“Okay, let’s get started,” I said as we all walked away from the main entrance and prepared to go our separate ways. Before I went off, I snatched Hearth’s arm and motioned to him if he wanted to join me and Loki. He smiled sweetly at me, glanced at Loki, and made the sign for _no_ , holding his flashlight up. I nodded, patting him on the shoulder. I watched him walk away and disappear down one of the mall’s hallways.

Loki and I went off in another direction. The air was silent between us for a few minutes as we walked and looked at each store.

“I think the food court is down this way,” I said at last.

“Why do you keep that elf around?” Loki asked suddenly.

“His name is Hearthstone,” I said with a hint of irritation.

Loki shrugged. “Why do you keep him around? You know he doesn’t like me.”

“He’ll get used to you in time. Once he sees you’re different from the Loki he knows, he’ll change his mind.”

“He’s already said I’m worse.”

“Then do something that will change his opinion of you.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, I don’t know… Stop being such a naughty boy, maybe?”

“I’m not naughty,” Loki replied indignantly. I glared at him. “Much.” He shrugged.


End file.
